list of scary movies
List of Scary Movies
With over 100 films, this list of horror movies starting from the 1950s, includes movies that cover all the subgenres of horror. These include action horror, psychological horror, slasher film, etc. If you're planning to rent a movie this weekend, these scary movies are a good option! Check them out.
"Do you have to open graves to find girls to fall in love with?"
- The Mummy (1932)
"When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth."
- Dawn of the Dead (1978)
"...and remember, the next scream you hear may be your own!"
- The Birds (1963)
The genre of horror is like none other. It can challenge your definition of fear on parameters you never thought existed. Vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies, serial killers, aliens and cannibals; they've scared all of us. The characters in these movies have sometimes portrayed evil so perfectly that even after years, we get goose bumps just thinking of them. Here is our list of the top 10 scary movies ever, followed by a decade-wise list of the best movies in this genre.
Index
Disclaimer: Even though Zombieland and Shaun of the Dead aren't meant to scare the audience, they still make it to the top 10 list because, both come under the genre of scary movies.
With this extensive list of scary movies, choosing just one is surely going to be difficult, isn't it? To avoid confusion, you might want to start with the latest ones and then watch the old ones. Have fun!
Top 10 Horror Movies of All Time
Sometimes solely, and sometimes along with other genres such as supernatural and thriller, these movies have horrified people with their extremely well-written characters, plots and usage of the macabre. The movies are listed in no particular order.
Alien
1979
Ridley Scott
The Shining
1980
Stanley Kubrick
Psycho
1960
Alfred Hitchcock
Cloverfield
2008
Matt Reeves
Zombieland
2009
Ruben Fleischer
Saw
2004
James Wan
The Exorcist
1973
William Friedkin
28 Days Later...
2002
Danny Boyle
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
2007
Tim Burton
Shaun of the Dead
2004
Edgar Wright
Horror Movies from 1950 Onwards
This list of scary movies starts from the 1950s. Around this time, after the end of the Second World War, global cinema had suddenly become prosperous. This led to the production of more movies in all genres.
1950 - 1959
Vertigo
1958
Alfred Hitchcock
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
1956
Don Siegel
The Night of the Hunter
1955
Charles Laughton
Diabolique
1955
Henri-Georges Clouzot
The Thing from Another World
1951
Christian Nyby, Howard Hawks
The Day the Earth Stood Still
1951
Robert Wise
Curse of the Demon
1957
Jacques Tourneur
Them!
1954
Gordon Douglas
The Fly
1958
Kurt Neumann
Horror of Dracula
1958
Terence Fisher
The Hound of the Baskervilles
1959
Terence Fisher
The Curse of Frankenstein
1957
Terence Fisher
The Bad Seed
1956
Mervyn LeRoy
House of Wax
1953
André De Toth
1960 - 1969
Peeping Tom
1960
Michael Powell
The Sinners of Hell
1960
Nobuo Nakagawa
House of Usher
1960
Roger Corman
Village of the Damned
1960
Wolf Rilla
Black Sunday
1960
Mario Bava
Eyes Without a Face
1960
Georges Franju
Scream of Fear
1961
Seth Holt
Pit and the Pendulum
1961
Roger Corman
The Innocents
1961
Jack Clayton
Carnival of Souls
1962
Herk Harvey
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
1962
Robert Aldrich
The Evil Eye
1963
Mario Bava
Black Sabbath
1963
Mario Bava, Salvatore Billitteri
The Haunting
1963
Robert Wise
Blood and Black Lace
1964
Mario Bava
The Birds
1963
Alfred Hitchcock
The Masque of the Red Death
1964
Roger Corman
Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte
1964
Robert Aldrich
Castle of Blood
1964
Antonio Margheriti, Sergio Corbucci
Kwaidan
1964
Masaki Kobayashi
Onibaba
1964
Kaneto Shindo
Repulsion
1965
Roman Polanski
Kill Baby, Kill
1966
Mario Bava
Five Million Years to Earth
1967
Roy Ward Baker
The Fearless Vampire Killers
1967
Roman Polanski
Twisted Nerve
1968
Roy Boulting
Kuroneko
1968
Kaneto Shindo
The Devil Rides Out
1968
Terence Fisher
Hour of the Wolf
1968
Ingmar Bergman
Rosemary's Baby
1968
Roman Polanski
Night of the Living Dead
1968
George A. Romero
The Cremator
1969
Juraj Herz
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?
1969
Lee H. Katzin
Horror of a Deformed Man
1969
Teruo Ishii
1970 - 1979
Nosferatu the Vampyre
1979
Werner Herzog
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
1970
Dario Argento
The Abominable Dr. Phibes
1971
Robert Fuest
Blade of the Ripper
1971
Sergio Martino
The Devils
1971
Ken Russell
Images
1972
Robert Altman
What Have You Done to Solange?
1972
Massimo Dallamano
Don't Torture a Duckling
1972
Lucio Fulci
The Last House on the Left
1972
Wes Craven
The Devil
1972
Andrzej Zulawski
An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe
1970
Kenneth Johnson
Theatre of Blood
1973
Douglas Hickox
The Wicker Man
1973
Robin Hardy
Don't Look Now
1973
Nicolas Roeg
The Legend of Doom House
1971
Harry Kümel
Phantom of the Paradise
1974
Brian De Palma
Black Christmas
1974
Bob Clark
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
1974
Tobe Hooper
Deep Red
1975
Dario Argento
Picnic at Hanging Rock
1975
Peter Weir
Who Can Kill a Child?
1976
Narciso Ibáñez Serrador
Burnt Offerings
1976
Dan Curtis
Carrie
1976
Brian De Palma
The Omen
1976
Richard Donner
Martin
1978
George A. Romero
Suspiria
1977
Dario Argento
Eraserhead
1977
David Lynch
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
1978
Philip Kaufman
Halloween
1978
John Carpenter
Dawn of the Dead
1978
George A. Romero
1980 - 1989
The Changeling
1980
Peter Medak
Possession
1981
Andrzej Zulawski
The Evil Dead
1981
Sam Raimi
An American Werewolf in London
1981
John Landis
White Dog
1982
Samuel Fuller
Tenebre
1982
Dario Argento
The Thing
1982
John Carpenter
Poltergeist
1982
Tobe Hooper
Angst
1983
Gerald Kargl
A Nightmare on Elm Street
1984
Wes Craven
Day of the Dead
1985
George A. Romero
The Return of the Living Dead
1985
Dan O'Bannon
Re-Animator
1985
Stuart Gordon
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
1986
John McNaughton
The Fly
1986
David Cronenberg
Opera
1987
Dario Argento
Hellraiser
1987
Clive Barker
Angel Heart
1987
Alan Parker
Evil Dead II
1987
Sam Raimi
Near Dark
1987
Kathryn Bigelow
They Live
1988
John Carpenter
Santa Sangre
1989
Alejandro Jodorowsky
1990 - 1999
Misery
1990
Rob Reiner
The Reflecting Skin
1990
Philip Ridley
Jacob's Ladder
1990
Adrian Lyne
Tremors
1990
Ron Underwood
The Silence of the Lambs
1991
Jonathan Demme
Dracula
1992
Francis Ford Coppola
Army of Darkness
1992
Sam Raimi
Dead Alive
1992
Peter Jackson
Nightwatch
1994
Ole Bornedal
Cemetery Man
1994
Michele Soavi
In the Mouth of Madness
1994
John Carpenter
The Day of the Beast
1995
Álex de la Iglesia
Scream
1996
Wes Craven
Tesis
1996
Alejandro Amenábar
From Dusk Till Dawn
1996
Robert Rodriguez
The Frighteners
1996
Peter Jackson
Cure
1997
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Cube
1997
Vincenzo Natali
Lost Highway
1997
David Lynch
Ring
1998
Hideo Nakata
Audition
1999
Takashi Miike
Stir of Echoes
1999
David Koepp
2000 - 2009
Battle Royale
2000
Kinji Fukasaku
The Devil's Backbone
2001
Guillermo del Toro
Ichi the Killer
2001
Takashi Miike
The Others
2001
Alejandro Amenábar
Bubba Ho-Tep
2002
Don Coscarelli
The Ring
2002
Gore Verbinski
Thirst
2002
Chan-wook Park
Gozu
2003
Takashi Miike
A Tale of Two Sisters
2003
Jee-woon Kim
Dawn of the Dead
2004
Zack Snyder
Three... Extremes
2004
Fruit Chan, Takashi Miike
The Descent
2005
Neil Marshall
Lunacy
2005
Jan Svankmajer
Noriko's Dinner Table
2005
Shion Sono
Noroi: The Curse
2005
Kôji Shiraishi
Strange Circus
2005
Shion Sono
Zoo
2005
Masaki Adachi, Ryu Kaneda
Asudem
2006
Daryush Shokof
The Host
2006
Joon-ho Bong
Grindhouse
2007
Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth
The Mist
2007
Frank Darabont
The Orphanage
2007
Juan Antonio Bayona
Planet Terror
2007
Robert Rodriguez
Paranormal Activity
2007
Oren Peli
[Rec]
2007
Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza
Let the Right One In
2008
Tomas Alfredson
Martyrs
2008
Pascal Laugier
Shutter
2008
Masayuki Ochiai
2010 onwards
Bedevilled
2010
Chul-soo Jang
Cold Fish
2010
Shion Sono
Confessions
2010
Tetsuya Nakashima
I Saw the Devil
2010
Jee-woon Kim
Trollhunter
2010
André Øvredal
Tucker and Dale vs Evil
2010
Eli Craig
The Cabin in the Woods
2012
Drew Goddard
Sinister
2012
Scott Derrickson
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
2013
Tommy Wirkola
Mama
2013
Andrés Muschietti
Dark Circles
2013
Paul Soter
Texas Chainsaw 3D
2013
John Luessenhop